Manufacturing quick-traverse shaper



Jan. 18 y 1927.

w. F. ZIMMERMANN IIANUFACTURING QUICK TRAYERSE SHAPER Filed Feb. 9. 192e s sneets-sneet 1 www , w. F. zlMMERMANN MANUFACTURING QUICK TRAVERSE SHAPER mea Feb. s. 'me

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lA 1451 5 Jan 181927 v w. F. ZIMMERMANN "6 8 IANuFATuRING QUIcK TRAvERsE SHA'PER Filed Feb. 9. 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented dan. 18, i927.

PATENT @lill EBERHARDT, OF NEVJARK, NEVI .'EESEY, A CORPORATION F NEW/V JERSEY.

MANUFACTUBl'lG QICK-TBAVERSE Application filed February All classes and Sorts oit machines utilizing` power for tooling,` metal are commonly referred to under the miscellaneous title ot machinetools and this invention is devoted to a new development in a characteristic class identiiied in a distinctive sense by the term Shaper Those Shapers, as a class, have remained what may be called tool-room machines and this invention seeks to develop a species that may appropriately become known as a manufacturing type by reason ot being. suitable for quantity production wl ere the time consumed in successively replacing; the work-blanks must be reduced to a minimum.

A so-called Shaper ditiers in various es sential principles from other types ot machine-tools and its development inte a manufacturing type et Shaper accordingly presents new problems 'from an improvers standpoint. For example, in a miller, the tool and the work both move during the cutting` stroke, while in a planer the worlr alone moves to perform each cutting` stroke and the tool is stationary. But in a Shaper, the out* tin n' stroke is performed by holding,` the work stationary and horizontally advancing` the tool in a path parallel with the suritace ot the work-support. ln the miller, the feed is a complex and it consists in a uniform progression et both the worlr (a translation) and the tool (a rotation) during` and throughout the cutting operation. ln a planer, the feed is accomplished in a still ditlerent way, i. e. by progressively side shitting' the tool, and the tooliis held stationary and the work is advanced to accomplish the cutting strokes. In the shaper, however, there is no movement ot the work during` any cutting' stroke and the toed is an intermittent side-shift et the work to an extent sui'licient to provide the desired width of cut for each stroke ot the tool.

'llo economize time, 1nilling-machines now provide means tor accelerating` the travel ot the work; but habitually in the same path or line in which it advances during the cutting operation. This is the so-called quick-travcrseand some analogy is perhaps found in the periodic quick-return ot the work in a planer along the identical path oit its ad- Vance against the stationary tool during the cutting operation. VBut in no shaper is there any power quicletraverse tor the work; the only rapid power movement being in the na- 9, 1926. Serial No. 8'?,063.

ture of a quick-return of the tool-carrying ram along; the identical path ot its cutting stroke. This periodic tool-return, however, had nothing' to do with facilitating work-replacenient 'for in the Shaper the table was progressively advanced after each cutting' stroke until the worlr-lilanlr had been com; pletely in chined; whereupon it always had to be manually brought to an initial feeding position betere a new blank could be inserted and there was no means tor accomplishing this occasional blanl-replacing` shitt ot the table either rapidly or by power.

The previous user et a Shaper was thus obliged to expend both time and manual ettortin screwing` back the table preparatoryto restarting' the machine tor removing the next layer et the worlr (where two or more successive depths oi cut had to be taken) or for bringing the table into position to receive a new piece ot work. This labor and undue loss ot time, while not so material in the tool-room, became a consequential item ot expense inthe sliep and, oftentimes, a prohibition against the use ot a Shaper for quantity production. rlowards creating` a truly mar itacturing Shaper, it is now proposed to incorporate improvements, involv- ,j a reorganization et the transmission sysein, whereby such movements may be perror-med by power instead ot by hand, and at a rate much quicker than manually, and through a facile control for very readily substituting the power quick-traverse for the regular slow feed ot the table; all t0 the end ot opening` up new fields et commercial usetulness tor Shapers.

Simplicity being; vital to sturdiness, it is the aim so to embody the power-mechanism lor rapidly traversing the table that the secondary transmission elements, extending from the main-line transmission to the cross-rail and thence to the table, will have the ultimate dual function oit propelling the table either with a slow intermittent or with a tast continuous movement. ln making' this reorganization, it is proposed to incorporate, at a Suitable Station, a compact conversion mechanism combined with a manual shit't whereby the power may be optionally transformed trom a step-by-step feed to a rapidtraverse; thereby augmenting the capacities et machine without materially increasing its number oit' elements.

This will become manifest by reference to Cil the drawings in which Fig. 1 represents a side-elevation; Fig. 2 a plan view partly in section; Fig. 8 a front elevation; and Fig. t a development of an illustrative embodiment of the invention.

The ultimate power-line or auxiliary transmission for propelling` the table transversely to the horizontally-acting ram is` in this instance, represented as a shaft a: iournaled in the cross-rail D and having threads g/ engaging a nut e aliixed to the table E for propelling it as stated. This ultimate transmission m y e derives its motion from the main-line through transmission elements constituting direction reversing means, shift means, a fast-running branch-line transmission and an intermittent motion transmission.

The fast-running branch is here instanced as comprising a pulley Q atlixed to one of the elements (the shaft 6) of the main-line so as to be driven by the power wlienever the machine is running. The terminal element of this quick-traverse transmission may be regarded as the pulley S and the intervening portion of this transmission is here represented in elemental form as a belt R which is here shown as crossed to turn the pulley S in the same direction as the ratchet wheel s for the feed.

The shift mechanism here takes the form of a shaft 1L appropriately journaled, in this example in the cross-rail, and this shaft is driven by clutch meanswhich enable it to be connected with either the fast or the slow transmission. This is done in an appropriate manner as, for example, by a clutch t at one end and a clutch t at its other; the latter being adapted to engage the terminal element s of the slow motion transmission. A simple mode of accomplishing the one engagement or the other is to shift the shaft axially by actuating a shift control lever l which operates a spool 2 on said shaft. Thus, by shifting the shaft u in one direction, the clutch t will engage the pulley S and the shaft will transmit motion used for the rapid traverse of the table.

This shift mechanism is preferably in serial relation with a motion-reverser which may be regarded as a gear V shiftable to engage either the direct-drive gear Wv or the vintermediate reverse-drive gear VV; each of these gears being, when thus engaged, elements for transmitting the quick-traverse or the slow feed motion to the screw shaft The shifting of the direction-changing gear V is done by a hand lever 23 controlling the spool 4.

A tool-head C is so mounted on the overhanging extremity of the ram B as to admit of being bodily moved (as by means of a screw e) in a direction at right-angles to the stroke-path of the ram; thereby enabling the tool C to be adjusted towards the work-piece E on the underlying table E to cause the tool to remove a predetermined depth of cut at each of it-s reciprocations until a horizontal layer of given depth has been taken oft` the work. An important and essential relation of this invention is that the bodily advance of the tool in all of its cuttingl strokes is confined to a narrow path parallel with said layer and that, liliewise, both the intermittent feed and the power quick-traverse operate parallel with said layer but always confined to a direction at right-agles to said path. This will now be made more manifest by outlining certain structural characteristics.

The body-casting A has a vertical slideway AV on its front face and a horizontal slide-way A on its top face; these two slideways being in the same general vertical plane so that they converge towards the upper front edge of the main frame. The cross rail D is adjustable along the vertical slide-way but is elongated transversely thereto and this cross-rail always underlies the ram B which continuously reciprocatcs in parallelism with the horizontal worksupporting surface E of a table E which slides, however, along horizontal ways Dt extending longitudinally wit-h the cross rail D and hence at right-angles with the overlying horizontal path of the reciprocating cutting-tool.

The main-line transmission is located within the body-castingl fr, and comprises the train of elements 5, G, 7, S, 9, 10, ll, l2, i3, ls-, l5, lo, l? and '1S which, being conventional, may be brieily described. The primeinover or main-pulley 5 acts through a clutch 553 controlled by lever L to drive the shaft (3; the motion oi which ilows through cnange gears i' and 8 and thus drives the shaft f) andv pinion lt). The latter drives the gear ll which in turn drives a pinion l?, nushing with the bull-gear 13. A pivot Vl-'t (adjustable radially on the bull-gear) rie-les in a slot l5 of the master-lever lll which7 at its upper end, operates a pin i7 for reciprocating the ram D through an adjustable block 18. By means of the hand lever (L and the screw I), that block may be clamped against the shoulder c of the ram to regulate the extent of over-hang of the ram required by the particular work to be machined. The mechanism thus provides justments for varying the frequency of the strokes of the ram. (2) the length of the stroke and the over-hang of the ram, and since the 'quick-traverse motion is derived from a point on the main line between the master-clutch and the change-gears for the bull-gear, the quick-traverse has a constant rate and is always available so long as the master-clutch has set the machine in operation.

The slow-motion transmission is here replli resented as a train of elements, 7b, t', 7c, Z, fut, n, 0, p, (1, fr, s, which derives power from an appropriate element of the main-line transniission within the body-casting; the junction element bein g here taken as the hub 71, of the bull-gear 13. On the end of the hub is a plate 1f which, through a suitable connection j revolves an eccentric It' for oscillating a link Z whereby a rocker 'In pivoted to the body-casting will be oscillated regularly. This rocker has a radial guide in the form of a screw fn, whereby a pivot 0 may be set at adjustable distances from the axis of the rocker. This adjustment is made by manually turning the knurled knob N which operates the screws n to vary the length of the arc of swing of the aforesaid pivot o and hence the length oi' each. stroke of the inlermittent-motion extensible link composed ot' the two connected parts n and p. rl'his link in turn oscillates a rocker q pivoted. loosely about the shaft u in the cross-rail. This rocker vibrates a pawl 9 through an arc the length of which, of course, is determined by the stroke of the extensible link; and this pawl in turn intermittently advances the ratchet wheel s so that, when the latter is engaged by the clutch zf, the intermittent slow feed will be transmitted to the table as previously explained.

By tracing the flow of motion from the main-line transmission to the junction element (the shaft u.) of the quick-traverse and the slow feed branch-line transmissions, it will be seen that the direction of propulsion of the table will be unchanged by shifting' the rate control lever l, and likewise the rate of propulsion will be unchanged by operating` the direction control lever 3. These levers therefore afford a manual control whereby the table may be slowly fed and quickly-traversed in the same direction or may be quickly-traversed in a direction contrary to that of the feed; depending upon the manner of manipulating the control means.

Having thus revealed this invention, I claim as new and desire to secure the followingcombinations and elements, or equivalents thereof, by Letters Patent of the United States A quick-traverse heavy-duty shaper for production manufacturing, combining a body-casting` having a vertical front slideway and a horizontal top-slide; a transverse cross-rail vertically adjustable; a table slidable on said cross rail transversely to said vertical slide-way and having a horizontal work-supporting surface; an auxiliary tablepropelling` transmission; a horizontal rain overhanging` said table; a main-line transmission leading` to said rain for periodically reciprocating it in said top-slide slowly to and rapidly fro along a fixed path parallel with but above said work-supporting surface; a tool-head on the overhanging eX- treinity of said rain and adjustable in a plane perpendicular to the path of said ram to determine the depth of cut of its tool; a fast-running branch-line transmission and an intermittent motion transmission, each deriving` motion from said main-line transmission; shift mechanism combined with said last-mentioned transmissions for enabling,` either at option to drive said auX- iliary transmission for feeding said table step-by-step along` said cross-rail transversely to said path to project successive horizontal strips of the work thereon into the horizontal path of the tool carried by said ram, or for quickly traversing said table along said cross-rail transversely to said path; and a manual control for said shift mechanism for causingr either the intermittent or the quick-traverse means to propel said table by power.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name.

WILLIAM F. ZIMMERMANN. 

